Shopping bag with tubular plastic handles



Sept. 5, 1967 c. c. PEARL.

SHOPPING BAG WITH TUBULAR PLASTIC HANDLES Filed Sept. 15, 1965 INVENTOR W W QM BY M NMM.

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,339,822 SHOPPING BAG WITH TUBULAR PLASTIC HANDLES Curt Charles Pearl, Forest Hills, N.Y., assignor to Equitable Paper Bag Co. Inc., Long Island City, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 13, 1965, Ser. No. 486,943 10 Claims. (Cl. 229-54) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This specification discloses a shopping bag having plastic tubular material used to form the handles of the shopping bag so as to provide a more comfortable means for carrying the bag. In order to increase the size of the handle without requiring excessive amounts of plastic, the handle is made with plastic tubes and the tubes are stapled to reinforced portions around the mouth of the bag. The staples flatten the tubular plastic at the stapled locations and these flattened portions act in the nature of keys to keep the handles from pulling loose by sliding through the staples.

This invention relates to shopping bags and more especially to shopping bags with plastic handles.

Since the usual paper shopping bags are generally regarded as expendable, it is important that they be low in cost. It is also important, however, that they have handles that are comfortable to carry, even when the bag is heavily loaded.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved shopping bag of the type having a loop handle at the upper end of each side of the bag, and to provide an effective and inexpensive construction in which plastic material can be used for the handles.

The plastic is more pleasant to the touch, and if a tubular plastic is used, a sufficient area for a comfortable grip is obtained without having the amount of plastic sufficient to produce any substantial increase in cost. Another object is to provide a construction in which greater strength is obtained in the connection of a plastic handle to the bag by utilizing certain characteristics of tubular plastic stock.

This invention provides a construction in which polyethylene tubing can be used as shopping baghandles, though the material was formerly considered unsuitable for the purpose because of its flexibility and its stretch. The invention obtains an unexpected result in connecting polyethylene tube handles to a shopping bag in a manner that obtains adequate strength by utilizing a combination of friction and stiffness of distorted sections of the tubing to prevent relative movement of the handle and the portion of the bag with which the handle connects. 7

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views;

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view, partly broken away and in section, showing a shopping-bag made in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a greatly enlarged sectional view showing the way in which the handle assemblies of FIGURE 1 are placed in the upper portion of the bag prior to connection with the bag;

FIGURES 3, 4, and 6 are greatly enlarged sectional views taken on the line 3-3; 4-4; 5-5; 6-6, respectively, of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 7-7, of FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 1 shows a shopping bag 10 having a front panel 12 and a back panel 14 connected together by end panels 16 which connect with a bottom 18 in accordance with the conventional construction of square bottom bags. At the upper end of the bag 12, all of the panels are folded over inwardly and downwardly to make the mouth of the bag of double thickness. The construction of the back panel 14 will be described but it will be understood that the construction of the front panel 12 is the same. The back panel 14 is folded to form a flap 20. There is a slit 22 at the fold of the flap 20 extending for sufficient length of the fold to permit a handle 24 to be inserted through the slit 22 as shown in FIGURE 2.

The handle 24 has an upper loop 26 by which the bag is carried and has downwardly extending end portions 28 which overlap the parts of the panel 14 behind the flap 20 when the handle 24 is in its assembled relation with the bag, as shown in FIGURE 1 and as shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 2 shows the lower portion 28 of the handle 24 attached to a relatively stiff filler piece 30. The handle 26 is made of tubular plastic material and the end portion 28 is connected to the filler piece 30 by staples 32 which are applied with enough force to flatten the tubular section of the plastic tubing of the handle 24 under each of the staples 32. The staple 32 closes behind the filler piece 30 to lock the handle 24 to the filler piece, as shown in FIGURE 7.

This flattening of the tubular plastic material serves two purposes. One is that it develop a substantial pressure for holding the handle against the filler piece 30 and against the staples 32 with sufficient force to provide a substantial friction to prevent relative movement of the plastic with respect to the staples and the filler piece; but another important purpose is to take advantage of the stiffness of the tube to prevent relative movement.

For example, by an inspection of FIGURE 2 it will be apparent that the handle 24 cannot move up or down with respect to the staples 32 without bending the tubular plastic material, which is still round and located close to the staples 32. Because of the stifiness of the plastic tube a very substantial force is required to bend it and an even greater force where the bending is to be effected by pushing the tube lengthwise so as to, in effect, draw it through the clearance between the staples 32 and the filler piece 30. This phenomena greatly increases the resistance of the handle to any relative movement with respect to the filler piece 30 in addition to the force provided by friction of the plastic with the staples and the filler piecel One of the reasons that plastic has not been regarded as suitable for the handles of paper shopping bags has been that the material is too slippery to develop the friction necessary for securing the handle to a heavily loaded shopping bag without resorting to fastening means of excessive cost. This invention, on the other hand, uses the staples 32 with tubular plastic material and obtains one of the most economical fastening means known.

After the handle 24 has been secured to the filler piece 30, in the manner shown in full lines in FIGUREZ, the filler piece 30 and the portion of the handle which overlaps the filler piece, are covered with paste 38, or. other suitable adhesive. The filler piece and its attached handle are then pushed up into the position shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 2. 1

The filler piece 30 is substantially longer than the slit 22. In FIGURE 1 the slit 22 extends from the location a to the location b and beyond the locations a and b, the panel 14 is folded over with no break at the fold. The filler piece 30, contacts with this fold where ever the panel 14 joins the flap 20 beyond these locations a and 3 b; and this limits the upward movement of the handle 24 and the filler piece 30.

The slit 22, which has been opened to admit the handle assembly, is then closed by pushing the flap 20 into contact with the filler piece 30 and the portions of the handle 26 which overlie the filler piece. All of the confronting areas which contact with the paste 38 are secured together and this firmly joins the filler piece 30 to both back panel 14 and the flap 20. In the preferred construction, the flap 20 extends somewhat below the bottom of the filler piece 30 and the extending lower end of the flap 20 is pasted to the back panel 14 at the locations 42, 44 and 46 in FIGURES 4, 5 and 6, respectively. Where the slit 22 is not held open by the handle 24, as in FIGURE 5, the flap 20 is secured at its upper end to the top of the panel 44 by paste to again close slit at the location 48 of FIGURE 6, this location extending for the distance between the downwardly extending ends of the handle 24.

The preferred embodiment of this invention uses high density polyethylene tubing for the handles 24. Medium density tubing can be used. Stiffness is important since it is the flattening of the tubular stock at a plurality of locations, and the stiffness with which the stock resists the flattening required for pulling through the staples, that assists the friction in preventing relative movements of the handle with respect to the connection to the bag. This auxiliary holding makes the difference between successful and unsuccessful construction using slippery plastic handle material for shopping bags which are to carry substantial weight. The handle can be connected to the filler piece 30 by more than two staples. The two staples shown in the drawing are representative of a plurality of staples. Two has been found sufiicient with stiff tubular stock. Use of three staples permits the use of softer tubular material.

In addition to polyethylene other materials can be used such as polypropylene or polyvinyl chloride.

The preferred embodiment of this invention has been illustrated and described, but changes and modifications can be made, and some features can be used in different combinations without departing from the invention defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A shopping bag open at its upper end and having front and back panels to which handles are attached, each of the handles being hollow and being a bail having a loop portion extending beyond the upper ends of the front and back panels and having ends secured to the panels, the handles being made of substantially circular cross-sectional tubular plastic material and both ends of each handle being stapled to a common relatively stiff filler piece at spaced locations and by a plurality of staples for each end portion, the hollow tubular material of the handle being clamped against the filler piece by each staple and distorted out of its normal circular cross section by the clamping force of the staple, the staples being spaced from one another along the length of each end portion of the handle below the tops of the front and back panels, and adhesive securing the outer surface of one filler piece to the inside surface of the front panel and the outer surface of the other filler piece to the inside surface of the back panel.

2. The shopping bag described in claim 1 characterized by the end portions of the handles being stapled to to the inside surfaces of the filler pieces that have their outside surfaces adhesively bonded to the front and back panels of the bag.

3. The shopping bag described in claim 1 characterized by the front and back panels having their upper edges folded inwardly and downwardly, the folds having slits therein for a portion of the width of the shopping bag, and the handles extending through said slits, each of the filler pieces being located within a fold and secured to the material of the bag by adhesive bonding both sides of the filler piece to the confronting faces of the back panels on opposite sides of the fold.

4. The shopping bag described in claim 3 characterized by each of the filler pieces extending for a substantial distance beyond the connections of the ends of the handle to the filler piece, the slits through the top of each fold being as long as the space between opposite end portions of the handle but shorter than the filler piece whereby part of the length of each end of the filler piece is in an unslitted portion of the fold at the top of the bag.

5. The shopping bag described in claim 4 characterized by the bag being made of paper and having folded end walls joining the front and back panel to increase the volume of the bag, and the bag having a square bottom.

6. The shopping bag described in claim 5 characterized by the folded upper end of the bag extending all the way around the bag including the top edges of the end walls.

7. The shopping bag described in claim 3 characterized by the folds extending downwardly for a distance greater than the height of the filler pieces to which the handles are connected, and the opposite sides of the folds being bonded together below the bottom ends of the filler ieces and also beyond the longitudinal ends of the filler pieces.

8. The shopping bag described in claim 7 characterized by the opposite sides of the slits at the top portions of the folds being bonded to the filler pieces, and being bonded to each other wherever the sides of the slits extend somewhat above the top edges of the filler pieces.

9. The method of making a shopping bag which comprises forming a web into a tubular bag blank, closing one end of the blank to form a bottom for the bag, folding the top edges of the blank inward and downward, slitting the material of the blank at the fold for a portion of the width of the top edge of the front and back of the bag blank, forming handles of tubular resilient plastic material of substantially circular cross section with a half loop and substantially parallel end portions, stapling the parallel end portions of each handle for a part of its length, remote from the loop, to a filler piece by a plurality of staples spaced along the length of the plastic, distorting the resilient plastic material to a flattened cross section by the clamping force of the staples so that the handle is flattened where stapled, spacing the staples so that the handle is of normal cross-section between staples, coating both sides of the filler piece with adhesive, push ing the handle and connected filler piece up through the bottom of the fold to thrust the handle through the slit and to bring the filler piece into the fold, and then closing the fold and bonding the folded material of the bag to the filler piece by the adhesive.

10. The method described in claim 9 characterized by making the handle span and the length of the slit substantially less than the length of the filler piece whereby end portions of the filler pieces extend into unslitted portions of the fold at opposite ends of the slit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,980,312 4/1961 Gould 229-54 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

R. PESHOCK, Assistant Exqm-iner, 

1. A SHOPPING BAG OPEN AT ITS UPPER END AND HAVING FRONT AND BACK PANELS TO WHICH HANDLES ARE ATTACHED, EACH OF THE HANDLES BEING HOLLOW AND BEING A BAIL HAVING A LOOP PORTION EXTENDING BEYOND THE UPPER ENDS OF THE FRONT AND BACK PANELS AND HAVING ENDS SECURED TO THE PANELS, THE HANDLES BEING MADE OF SUBSTANTIALLY CIRCULAR CROSS-SECTIONAL TUBULAR PLASTIC MATERIAL AND BOTH ENDS OF EACH HANDLE BEING STAPLED TO A COMMON RELATIVELY STIFF FILLER PIECE AT SPACED LOCATIONS AND BY A PLURALITY OF STAPLES FOR EACH END PORTION, THE HOLLOW TUBULAR MATERIAL OF THE HANDLE BEING CLAMPED AGAINST THE FILLER PIECE BY EACH STAPLE AND DISTORTED OUT OT ITS NORMAL CIRCULAR CROSS SECTION BY THE CLAMPING FORCE OF THE STAPLE, THE STAPLES BEING SPACED FROM ONE ANOTHER ALONG THE LENGTH OF EACH END PORTION OF THE HANDLE BELOW THE TOPS OF THE FRONT AND BACK PANELS, AND ADHESIVE SECURING THE OUTER SURFACE OF ONE FILLER PIECE TO THE INSIDE SURFACE OF THE FRONT PANEL AND THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE OTHER FILLER PIECE TO THE INSIDE SURFACE OF THE BACK PANEL. 